A Famously Armed Teacher Responds to Trump's Idea

President Donald Trump pauses as he walks from the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018, after hosting a listening session with high school students, teachers,... (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

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President Trump picked up where he left off Wednesday night, taking to Twitter on Thursday morning to expound upon his idea of arming teachers. "I never said 'give teachers guns' like was stated on Fake News @CNN & @NBC," he began. "What I said was to look at the possibility of giving concealed guns to gun adept teachers with military or special training experience - only the best. 20% of teachers, a lot, would now be able to ... ....immediately fire back if a savage sicko came to a school with bad intentions. Highly trained teachers would also serve as a deterrent to the cowards that do this. Far more assets at much less cost than guards. A 'gun free' school is a magnet for bad people. ATTACKS WOULD END!" he added.

In a White House meeting Wednesday with students and families affected by shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and other schools, Trump referred to Stoneman Douglas assistant football coach Aaron Feis, who died protecting students, suggesting that if Feis had been armed, "he would've shot and that would've been the end of it." Axios flags a quote in a New York Times piece from someone uniquely positioned to respond: Joel Myrick, who as a Mississippi assistant principal in 1997, retrieved his Colt. 45 pistol from his truck, loaded it, and chased and detained a school shooter who had killed two. "Teachers have to teach, and that's what they should be doing. It doesn’t matter what a pistolero you are, or think you are. You don’t need to be in school in charge of protecting children." (Read more President Trump stories.)